Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors points to average–of–two marking system for poor performance by Pune students in the MD examination this year

The Maharashtra University of Health Sciences’ (MUHS) new method of examination has not gone down well with students, who have been protesting since October 17. Around 11,900 medical students from all over Maharashtra failed after the new assessment policy came into being, bringing the results down to a mere 52 per cent from the earlier, robust success rate of 85 per cent. The protests are going strong outside the MUHS building at Nashik, with 300 to 400 students protesting during the day, and around 40 to 50 of them sleeping outside the gate at night.

"Earlier, the papers were evaluated by a single examiner. Now, two people check the papers and the final marks are the average of the marks given by both. The exam is subjective, and there is usually a wide discrepancy in the marks the examiners allot." "People have failed by one or two marks due to this new system," said Dr Santosh Wakchaure, president, Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD).

Students protest the new policy in Nashik

"Pune had some of the worst results in the MD exams this time. Most of those who failed in the MF medicine paper are from Pune, so the protests have a large number of students from the city," said Dr Ibrahim Ansari of BJ Medical College, who is secretary for MARD’s Pune chapter.

He added, "There will be a meeting on October 23 between the Vice Chancellor of MUHS and MARD, which may also be attended by deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. They shouldn’t have applied the rule at the last moment it was declared after the exams were over."

Around 50 students have been sleeping outside the MUHS gate every night

One of the protesting students, who declined to be named, told Mirror, "The university has even cancelled our right to have the papers re–evaluated. This rule of taking an average of the marks was announced after the examination. They are even refusing to give us the break–up of marks. Ideally, we should get this from the university itself, but some of the students had to obtain it under the RTI Act. The university has closed its doors to us."

Dr Arun Jamkar, Vice Chancellor, MUHS, said, "Every year, after the exams, there are a lot of papers coming in for re–evaluation. Our observation has been that the marks increased marginally after the re–evaluation. There has been plenty of research which shows that for essaytype questions, the best way to judge is to by averaging. It is a sad thing that instead of approaching the university, students moved court. Now, the court has upheld our decision to implement the new system. As for the average–of–two marks system, the decision is awaited from the academic council."